How To Deliver Your Speech: An Emergency Toolkit
Whether your speech is next week or next year, whether your writing is polished or still rough around the edges, you need to know some fundamentals to stand up there and actually deliver the speech. Consider this post your emergency kit, your “go bag”—not everything you'll ever need, but it will get you started.
1. Authenticity: Know Yourself & Don’t Perform
Not even the best speech writing results in an outstanding delivery. That's where the magic happens. That’s where it clicks. That's where you go from giving a decent speech to delivering something that has your audience on the edge of their seats, nodding along, entirely with you the whole way, connecting with you and your idea in a way that they’ll never forget.
Which means that one of the most crucial things is knowing yourself and delivering as yourself. Why? Lots of reasons. But one in particular, is that the average audience has become extremely adept at sniffing out things that are inauthentic, or derivative, pretending to be something that they are not. It might have been all the reality television we consumed in the late 90’s (and then every day since then) or the fact that social media dominates our attention but people today are really sophisticated consumers of media--and that means we can spot anything that seems remotely “salesy”.
Whatever it is, you've got to know your voice. You have to know who you are and be that person on stage, unapologetically. Without this understanding, your audience will check out. Guaranteed. So, our advice is to lean into you and avoid things that are “schtick” that you may have seen another speaker use. Like a bunch of props, an interactive song, or lots of tech. It’s not that these elements can never be effective, it’s that most often the speaker is using them before the content of their speech works and that they’re using them as a crutch. If you use a tool like this eventually, and you probably don’t need to, think of it as adding to an already effective speech, not as hinging on them, not as a substitution for creating and crafting and delivering a great speech. Because the most likely consequence of using these tools ineffectively is that the audience ends up feeling that your speech is more about you than it is about them.
Another reason knowing yourself and your voice is so important is that it will give you confidence on stage. Once you have a clear idea of who you are when you’re up there in front of people, you can stand firm in your integrity and your expertise. You can be unequivocal. You can put your stake in the sand. Draw lines. You can be comfortable not pleasing everybody. Ultimately, it’s the clarity of real confidence that draws attention and commands credibility and authority. A great speech doesn’t ask for approval, it delivers it.
Here’s one more way to think about this: The delivery of your speech is not a performance, it's a conversation. It’s not a monologue and it shouldn’t feel like one. A mistake new speakers often make is getting on stage and putting on some artificial persona, mistaking the form as theatrical, or perhaps thinking that the harder they try, the more likely they are to captivate their audience. Another cause of this is that they aren’t confident in their content, so they want to perform it to compensate. What they really need to do is just be present and authentic. But, whatever you do, don’t act. Acting is hard. That’s why they give awards for it (and also because Hollywood loves to congratulate themselves).
Now, as we write this section about how your speech is a conversation and not a performance, there are public speaking coaches around the world psychically feeling the need to correct us and are preparing the draft of their email. But seriously, as a reminder for everyone, including our coaching friends, this post is about TEDx talks and keynote speeches that are rooted in your business or mission. They are tied to your industry or a transformative idea that will ultimately pull people in to learn more about you and your work. So, while there are always exceptions, these kinds of talks really should be seen as more of a conversation and delivered as such. Really. This doesn’t mean there aren’t venues where your speech or talk can be more performative in nature, like speaking competitions, personal storytelling stages, or that Tik Tok trend where… okay we’re not on Tik Tok, but you get the point.
All this being said, there absolutely are benefits to blocking (how you move, or stand), or practicing your hand gestures, or otherwise elevating your persona on stage, but trying to learn and apply these elements on the fly for new speakers in a time crunch is going to do more harm than good. It will appear theatrical and rehearsed and it will take the audience away from your message. We’ve seen it over and over again. Do not spend more time on these elements than you do on developing your content and finding ease in your delivery. Talk the way you talk and move the way you move. If you have lots of energy, great, use that on stage. If you’re more subdued and your humor is as dry as a popcorn fart in a desert… great! Use that, maybe. The point is that you are always you on stage. Your stage persona should be a slightly exaggerated version of yourself.
At the same time, being natural doesn't mean being unprepared. In fact, it requires more preparation, not less. The key to being present and natural is to know your material cold, forward and backward, so that the words can flow naturally without you even having to think about it. There’s a wise adage running through the speaking world that goes something like this:
If you’re overly nervous there are only two causes, you’re either not prepared or you think it’s about you. And it’s probably both.
2. Vocal Variation: Pace, Pitch & Pause
Authenticity is key, but it's not enough on its own. As you do more speaking and advance in your ability onstage, you’ll also need to bring variation to your delivery. Change up your pacing, your pitch, the placing and length of your pauses, and more. Build to big, applause-worthy crescendos. Think of yourself like a great vocalist delivering a classic song—they know when to belt it out and when to pull back to a whisper. It's truly in vocal variation where audiences are moved to an emotional state, and thereby moved to take action.
We’ve all had the experience of listening to a speaker who stays in the same tone and pace for the entire talk. If they’re too upbeat the whole time, it’s exhausting; if they’re consistently slow and intentional, it’s like a lullaby, and you can watch your fellow audience members trying to resist the nap. That’s why vocal variety is essential—it keeps your audience engaged, helps them remember the best stuff, and prevents listener fatigue. Switch up your rhythm, pitch, and volume, and you’re basically slapping them to attention every other sentence. Some people are naturally good at this. Most of us aren’t. So here’s a mini blueprint.
Start by being intentional. Go through your script and highlight those big moments: the power lines, the key takeaways, the ideas that deserve a mic drop. You’ll start to see where you can speed up before a powerful line, pause, speak, then pause again. Or where you can slow down and drop the pitch of your voice for a big reveal, then pick up the pace. Make these notes in your script. Come up with your own shorthand or color coding. These intentional little tweaks can turn “nice speech” into “you blew my mind!”
Variation in your volume, pitch, and tone are essential. You can completely shift your audience’s focus and emotional state just by adjusting these. Variation in your volume is straightforward: speak louder to grab attention, go softer to build suspense. Pitch is the highs and lows in your voice. Variation in pitch keeps you from sounding like Siri. Try a higher pitch to convey excitement and a lower pitch when delivering something more sincere. Tone is the emotion in your voice. It’s what gives your words the right mood. A Dirty Hairy line like, “go ahead, make my day” has an unmistakable grit and seriousness to it. We can also see how the line has to be delivered in tandem with the right volume and pitch for full effect. Play around with these tools to keep the audience guessing and ultimately remembering your best lines.
Your pace is another secret weapon. Speed up when you’re excited or when you’re covering familiar ground. Slow down for a key point, or when you really want people to soak up what you’re saying. And don’t forget to pause—but not just any pause, a pregnant pause. Hold it for a second longer than you think you should. It’s the ultimate attention getter. Pause at the start of your talk to build suspense. Pause after a major point to let it sink in. Pause before a punchline. Pause after you ask a question. Pause at the end. Basically, sprinkle… pauses… everywhere.
Another way to hold attention is to vary your sentence length. Mix short, punchy lines with longer ones. Again, go through your script and check your sentence length. If there’s not enough variation, it’s an easy fix. And while you’re in there tweaking things, you might as well add a little repetition. Remember the “I have a dream” speech? Of course you do. Dr. King repeated “I have a dream” nine times in five minutes, each with a different pitch, volume, or pace. The simple tool of repetition helped it become one of the most recognizable speeches in human history. This is the power of vocal variety.
3. But Seriously, What Do I Do With My Hands?
First, don’t worry about your hands too much. This is going to deviate again from what many speaking coaches on speaking are going to tell you, because for some reason there is a love of hand gestures and the meaning that each conveys in the speaking world. Again, don’t get me wrong, there’s power in hand gestures--think about the message and emotion of a fist raised in the air at an Olympic podium versus a middle finger hanging out of a car window. There’s a lot to be said here. However, on stage, what's more important to think about is body language. Unless your hand movements are erratic and distracting, you probably don’t need to practice choreographed times to gently clasp your hands or bring your fingers together to create a subtle diamond shape at waist level that both conveys power and openness.
You’ll find that body language springs naturally from your message and from your own confidence and belief in what you’re saying. If you’ve put thought and care into your content, then your body movements are going to follow. This is what we want. This is a direct reflection of your own authenticity and will therefore be different from speaker to speaker. You may find yourself nodding when you get a good response from the audience, or shaking your head when citing something that’s part of your problem statement. You might lean forward slightly to make a stronger point or smile when you’ve hit a punchline. When you’re truly present, when you own your content, when you’re fully confident, you will find your body reacting to what you’re saying. When you achieve this state, your audience is captivated. They are on the edge of their seats ready to be transformed and take the next step in your call to action.
Be mindful that your body language is read from the moment you step onto stage, or in some cases, from the moment your audience can see you. Perhaps seated at the panel table just off stage or in the lobby before the speech. Know that your audience will carry over any information they have before your first word. So, be intentional with your body language, whether on stage or off, don't let your body language be up for interpretation. Use it to elevate your credibility, your content and ultimately lift your audience out of their seats.
